Who Is Jeff Poor? Editor Under Fire After Alabama Pastor's Death
F. L. "Bubba" Copeland, the mayor of Smiths Station and pastor at the First Baptist Church of Phenix City, on the state border with Columbus, Georgia, had taken his own life.
It followed a slow pursuit by officers attending a welfare check.Lee County Sheriff's Office made no connection between the publication of the article and Copeland's suicide, and Newsweek has not found evidence to suggest it was a factor in his death.
We approached Poor and 1819 News via email for comment on Monday.Two days prior, 1819 News had published a story noting how Copeland had created an alter-ego for himself as a transgender woman.
He wore his wife's clothes in social-media posts, interacted with members of the LGBTQ+ community, and wrote erotic transgender fiction.Copeland told the outlet in an interview ahead of the article's publication that the posts were a hobby and a fantasy he had done to relieve stress since his youth.
